Editorial: Falling student achievement raises school education questions

New Zealand students are falling behind in reading, writing, maths and science. Photo / 123RF

When independent economist Cameron Bagrie was asked to identify our most pressing problem for the Herald’s New NZ series last November, he didn’t hesitate. “If you want to pick an economic barometer of where New Zealand’s going to be in 30 years, I don’t think there’s any better one than education system outcomes today,” he said. “If you’ve been looking at achievement or attendance, you’re going to be really worried about where New Zealand’s going to be in 30 years.”

Bagrie was pinpointing a trend that has worried employers for some time. Universities noticed a growing number of students who had passed NCEA level 2 yet were unable to write an essay or understand basic mathematical equations. After considerable pushing, the universities got their wish for independent literacy and numeracy tests as part of NCEA. The tests are due to begin in 2024 and early results are ominous. Only a third of students in pilot tests passed the writing standard and two thirds passed in reading. Only a quarter of boys and 2 per cent of students in decile 1 schools tested passed the writing test.

Defenders have been quick to point out that the test had several limitations. Unfortunately, as our new education series Making the Grade explains today, the results are broadly consistent with national and international data showing New Zealand students are struggling in the core subjects of reading, writing, maths and science. To take just a few examples, 55 per cent of primary students were behind on maths when they finished primary school. Two thirds were behind on reading and 80 per cent were behind on science. International tests show New Zealand has a much higher proportion of students with virtually no grasp of maths or science compared to Australia, England or the United States. One estimates about one in five of our students are functionally illiterate.

Despite the growing evidence that something is wrong, our education sector has been reluctant to confront the issue. The Ministry of Education responded to the shocking results in the literacy and numeracy pilots by asking the Qualifications Authority to make the tests easier. Many in officialdom and academia often prefer to blame factors outside the classroom for low academic achievement, rather than consider changing the way our children learn.

Of course, student achievement is complex and factors such as attendance, truancy and home environment play crucial roles. Teachers deserve more practical training and the better pay and conditions they have been striking for could help to retain and attract high-calibre staff. But none of these measures alone will fix the fundamental problems in our core subjects. One of the more sobering results from a recent international test showed our achievement gap between the highest and lowest students had narrowed – not because children at the bottom were catching up but because our top students were falling down the rankings faster. When even the most privileged students start to fail, it’s time to examine the whole system.